Monthly Archives: February 2013

The Chicago Blackhawks returned to the United Center Tuesday to take on the team directly below them in the Western Conference standings, the Anaheim Ducks. The ‘Hawks led after two periods, but lost the lead late and suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to begin a seven-game home stand.

Viktor Fasth won his sixth straight start this season, stopping 28 of the 30 shots managed by the Blackhawks.

In the opening period, Chicago had a nice chance created by Brandon Saad, who won a battle for the puck, took it into the Ducks zone and passed to Jonathan Toews. Toews got behind the net and set up Saad in front of the net, but Fasth stopped the attempt. Read more »

PuckChatter~Radio returned from a 5-week hiatus Monday night simply to proclaim that the Chicago Blackhawks are, in fact, really, really good. Yep, that’s about it. But hey, we’re rusty.

Well, we did too discuss Duncan Keith and the level he’s been playing at thus far. We also took a look at Brandon Saad’s game and what lineup change could benefit the team right now.

Also, we reviewed some of our 5 day Las Vegas visit over Super Bowl Weekend (if you’re hungry for more audio, I did two hours with Radio Exposed last week talking Vegas, the Super Bowl and many other things here) ; our experience at the ECHL Las Vegas Wranglers 18 & Over Topless Hockey night game; some Rockford IceHogs news and notes; Adam Clendening, Philippe Paradis and Dylan Olsen sound clips; Valentine’s Day advice for the guys and a tribute to a friend. The show is also interrupted and my co-host Superstar has to drop off for the remainder when a woman drove into the tree in his front yard driving 40 miles an hour. True story. Apparently the woman is okay all things considered.

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At this point our next show is scheduled for Wednesday February 20th at 8pm central. Tonight was also our first show using newly purchased recording equipment. It seems to have worked out okay aside from a glitch you won’t notice right as we went live.

“Do unto others as they have done unto you
But what in the hell is this world coming to?” – Metallica

By Rich Lindbloom

From a casual bystanders view, one would think the scrap between Jamal Mayers and Raffi Torres had little impact on the outcome of the game in the desert last Thursday. I told people at work that I doubted that the Hawks would even waste any energy exacting just retribution on Raffi for his brutal decapitation attempt of Marian Hossa in last year’s playoffs. After all, it’s as plain as the nose on your face that a good beat down will have little impact on the way Torres plays the game. As the saying goes, “A tiger can’t change its stripes.” Goes to show you what I know about hockey. Read more »

One week since the Super Bowl claimed its victor, it was time for the Blackhawks to claim victory on the final night of their 6-game road trip on Sunday night in Nashville. The team has been on a two week road trip covering western Canada, the sunny south and now the home of country music.

The Predators played on Saturday night in Minnesota and went all the way to overtime and then a shootout where they came up short losing 2-1. The Hawks already had a practice in Nashville and were awaiting the Sunday night central division grudge match. It was said the talk around the locker room was that the energy was high and the excitement of returning home to Chicago and a seven-game home stand was even more enticing. The Hawks have only played at the United Center twice this season and rolled into Nashville on Sunday with a 9-0-2 record, the best in the NHL. Read more »

The Rockford IceHogs have played 48 games of their 2012-13 schedule. Despite avoiding the poor start that has plagued the team in recent seasons, post lockout struggles have put the IceHogs in an all-too-familiar position. Namely, near the bottom of the AHL Western Conference and looking at an uphill climb to a spot in the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 campaign.

Saturday’s effort at the BMO Center didn’t inspire confidence as the IceHogs were shutout by Houston 2-0. Since play resumed last month, Rockford has limped to a 3-7 mark. The luck wasn’t any better against the Aeros.

Both Aeros goals were of the same variety. Ben Youds failed to clear the Hogs zone in the waning seconds of the opening period, leading to a two-on-one chance that was made good when Johan Larsson beat a sprawling Henrik Karlsson with eight seconds left. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks earned their seventh road win of the 2013 season with a 6-2 victory in Glendale over the Phoenix Coyotes. Patrick Kane scored a pair of power play goals in the first period and Ray Emery had another reliable outing in net as the Blackhawks improved to 9-0-2 on the year.

The game marked the first time that Raffi Torres would be on the ice against the Blackhawks after his high hit on Marian Hossa in the 2012 playoffs knocked the Hawks star winger out of action for months.

Retribution was quick against Raffi Torres, who answered the bell on his first shift of the game. Jamal Mayers initiated the scrap as soon as he stepped off the bench, and Torres was ready for him. Read more »

I know it’s been a while since we’ve done a podcast of our own, so for anyone interested in a mostly un-hockey show, I was the guest last night on a brand-new edition of Radio Exposed.

Again, my apologies for such a long PuckChatter~Radio drought. There are some reasons for that and those are discussed on this Radio Exposed show. For now, the timing just worked out perfectly when Tinky at Radio Exposed asked me to guest host last night. And, it gave me a chance to test-run my new microphone!

-Recaping my weekend in Vegas
-Other Vegas shenanigans
-An upcoming major television appearance
-Pizza found in odd places
-Super Bowl wins, Ray Lewis and the big party~!
-Jim Harbaugh is too whiny
-Burning the midnight, morning, afternoon and then early evening oil
-Airline that lost the luggage – twice
-What’s going on with PuckChatter?
-Brewing beer at home
-Lewd energy drinks
-Sabremetrics for beer
-Seattle man who urinated a lot – on the police
-Underrated hottie of the week
-The horoscopes
-Dressing like batman, posting it to youtube and what I’ve decided to be for this coming Halloween.
-A British man who yelled something on a plane he probably shouldn’t have
-Ruutu makes a contribution

“What he did was criminal.” Joel Quenneville on Razor’s performance vs. Calgary

By Rich Lindbloom

If you spend any time watching the NHL Network, you’re probably quite familiar with the man sitting in the boat with the screen door bottom. “Hawker” extraordinaire, Phil Swift, exuberantly promotes this new miracle product, finishing his pitch with the classic, “Buy one can, and we’ll send you another one for free –“but you must order now!” Uncle Rico and his sailing-ship-in-a-bottle offer got nothing on this guy. Just how good at sealing leaks is this supernatural product? Well, you get a little idea when you see Phil with a can standing on the Hoover Dam. I’m pretty sure even Blues fans could put 2 + 2 together on that image. Read more »

The Chicago Blackhawks broke a four-game losing streak at the HP Pavilion, rallying from an early two-goal deficit to defeat the San Jose Sharks 5-3 Tuesday night. The ‘Hawks remained unbeaten in regulation this season in a game that saw rookie Brandon Saad log his first NHL goal in a wild first period.

The Sharks were physical right from the start of the contest and it paid off in the form of a pair of early goals. San Jose laid some hard hits on Andrew Shaw along the boards and Duncan Keith behind the ‘Hawks net. Keith avoided big contact, but landed hard on his back.

With Keith temporarily on the bench, Joe Pavelski knocked in a bouncing puck created by Marc Edouard Vlasic’s shot from the point at the 2:53 mark of the first.

Minutes later, Tommy Wingles got the puck entering the Chicago zone and fired a lazer over the glove of Corey Crawford to make it 2-0 San Jose just 5:18 into the game. At this point, coach Joel Quenneville used his time out in an attempt to settle his team. It did just that as Chicago struck twine three times in the span of 89 seconds. Read more »

The Blackhawks got back into the win column on Saturday night in Calgary, pulling out a 3-2 victory in their third consecutive game decided by shootout.

Patrick Kane scored the deciding goal in the shootout, but Ray Emery was the story of the game. Making just his second start of the season, the veteran goaltender made 45 saves against perpetual pressure from the Calgary Flames.

Emery saw plenty of action in the opening frame, but apart from a couple rebounds let out in front of his net, he did not have any trouble getting locked into the game early.

He showed good positioning, making an early save on a Dennis Wideman shot that was deflected in front of the net. Emery also received a little help from the post in the latter half of the period. Following a quick give-and-go with Alex Tanguay, Mike Cammalleri saw some open net to the far side but drew iron with a one-timed shot. Read more »